Guide to the Brass Quintet

A Collection of Excerpts, Recordings, and Other Resources for Horn Players in Brass Quintets

Despite the title, these pages are intended as a resource for anyone interested in learning more about original brass quintet repertoire. The information presented here is largely based on materials from my doctoral dissertation, A Fully Annotated Selection of Excerpts, Historical Recordings, and Techniques Required for the Horn in the Standard Brass Quintet Repertoire, D.M.A. diss. University of Wisconsin-Madison, 2007.

The initial idea and inspiration for this project came from reading the “Afterthoughts” section of Douglas Hill’s book Collected Thoughts on Teaching and Learning, Creativity and Horn Performance. In this section, Professor Hill lists a number of intriguing research topics, including the creation of excerpt books focusing on repertoire other than standard orchestral excerpts. I am very interested in the wonderful music being written for the brass quintet, so this project proved to be an excellent choice given my own research interests and performing background.

What is Contained in this Site?

Hopefully, horn players and other interested musicians will find the following resources contained in these pages useful.

A collection of printable excerpts of important horn passages from some of the most frequently performed and recorded original brass quintet compositions. The excerpts are formatted and edited with additional performance instructions for horn players.

A Discography showing the names of the ensembles, titles of compositions, and information on the specific recordings where each work is found. The discography lists, at times, multiple recordings of each major work, so that players can study and listen to multiple interpretations.